Anno is in many ways holding up a mirror to us and showing us a rather grotesque but all too realistic depiction of how people really act. One of the first Josei titles I ever picked up I think, this book (for all its warnings) is a nostalgic reread for me. For the most part, we follow an overweight girl, Noko Hanazawa, who is the constant target of workplace bullying and social ostracization.

Primero que nada, avisaré de que este manga tiene varios tw: gordofobia, bulimia, bullying, relaciones tóxicas, sexshaming .While most of the cast sticks to the bobbleheaded, sharp-eyed model that Anno so often uses, Noko stands out. We do not enjoy or approve of Noko’s closing determination, but we can understand her resignation because we’re neither stupid nor blind to the way of the world.

The first few pages establish the character — she hates her body, feeling like she’s “wearing a leotard of flesh”, but keeps eating, because that’s a moment when she’s not thinking about her size and how other women denigrate her for it. Watson and Holmes: A Scandal In Harlem reprints the previous second collection of stories with a new, short (seven [. The movie was directed by Shinji Higuchi, who, like her husband Hideaki Anno, is a co-founder of Gainax.

After suffering repeated abuses at work and the revelation that her long-time boyfriend is cheating on her with Mayumi, Noko begins dieting out of the belief that becoming thin will make her prettier and happier.

This denial of introspection and ascension to myth (as with Liliko’s ultimate transformation in Helter Skelter) is the deepest and darkest irony of the work. Instead, events bleakly spiral into the increasingly outrageous, with paid dating, a weight-loss clinic, criminal co-workers, banishment, paranoid plots, and a very lost, self-loathing central figure. Every new chapter (save for the finale) is abstractly heralded by the depiction of a lean, beautiful, and often nude woman—who is not (until the last chapter) the protagonist. Noko appears to be living a great life, she's got a good job and a loving boyfriend, but beneath a thin veneer is a young woman who is struggling with her self-image and self-confidence as she fights to keep her weight down. Anno’s stylized, Kyoko Okazaki-influenced artwork reflects the erratic and disturbing nature of the story quite well.Noko does have a boyfriend of eight years, and when her colleagues find out, Mayumi promptly seduces him, and the bullying Noko experiences at work escalates.

It’s not an easy read mid-way through, and it’s just a difficult to work through, comprehend and finish. They’ve been together for several years, but his motives for being with her are as abusive as her co-workers, and she eventually finds out he’s cheating on her. Despite the treatment she gets due to her weight, no one else wants her to get thin, however: Mayumi, her colleague, needs Noko to remain fat and an outlet for her power trips; Saito, her boyfriend, only likes Fat! In this scene, the difference between Noko and her female colleagues is severe in Anno’s hands: while her “normal” (thin, pretty) coworkers are drawn as Anno’s signature wide-eyed waifs, Noko is both inflated and flattened at once, as abstracted as the Michelin man. I really think this start style, peppered with lots and lots of nudity I can't show, really reinforces the themes in the book.While Noko’s eating issues are well-constructed, her overarching personality and those of other characters are a bit lacking in depth. Anno’s art looks consistently professional, even with the series being one of her earlier endeavors. That’s the American take, where we expect Noko to just get some willpower, stand up for herself, lose the weight, and find a better guy.